[Review] Baby I joined a cult

In English, “Cult” refers to organizations that worship beliefs or beliefs outside of the main religion, most of which have a mysterious and strange image in the eyes of atheists. In the world of entertainment, the movie culture of Hollywood has pushed this image even further with mystical horror movies that slightly blur the line between reality and the paranormal. That makes every time we think of Cult, or “Cult”, we often think of sick heresy with monstrous monstrous practices.

But honey I joined a cult, the debut game from Sole Survivor Games, takes on a completely different color than we imagined. There, the player, as a rookie “leader” who had just started to form a sect, now had to deal with a billion issues surrounding his flock. From making sure the infrastructure runs smoothly, fully clothed, to maintaining the “lego” spirit, players will be immersed in a true management game with Honey, I Joined a Cult.

personalization​

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Usually, at the beginning of single player games, character customization seems to be absent and doesn’t mean much. But honey, I joined a cult allows you to customize it to your liking to make your church unique. Not Christians, Buddhists or Muslims, but players will create an empire for themselves. You can leave the default completely if you don’t want to spend hours thinking about what your army looks like.

Instruct

For games with “follow-on” gameplay, most veteran players will skip this prelude. As for Honey, I Joined a Cult, as a leader, players need to understand the most basic operations and indicators to understand the game mechanics before operating a complex community. If you’ve ever experienced traditional games like The Sims, you’ll surely become familiar with them quickly. However, whether to use it skillfully or not depends on the leadership ability of each person.

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how to play

The main goal of the game is to increase the number of followers and keep the cult members always achieving the best happiness stats. In other words, the more followers you recruit, the more you have to work to build and care for people. Similar to common cults, the game has spiritual activities like meditation, yoga practice, prayer,… but there are no sacrifices or creepy activities at all.

Viewed objectively, building and growing a church is like a business that generates money, and the money earned continues to be used to expand the size of the sect. Players will have to carry out a series of activities such as promoting the image, expanding their reputation, evangelizing more people. Whether or not the Church is sustainable depends very much on the proper calculation of activities, of course, balancing money is equally important if you don’t want to go bankrupt in a moment.

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In general, the game is not based on religion too much, it just manages and operates a group of “eccentric” people. Even the game becomes quite funny when the sheep go around the house with extremely clever and funny lines.

images and sounds

In terms of graphics, there really isn’t much to talk about because this is a 2D game with a relatively simple blocky layout. But in return, both the refinement and the level of perfection are quite well done. The game focuses on gameplay rather than investing in visuals, so the graphics for an indie game of this type are completely acceptable.

The color of Honey, I Joined a Cult is inspired by the 1970s. Almost all of the sights and sounds are inspired by Western culture decades ago, especially the vibrant, dynamic, jubilant music that makes the player stomp strong to the rhythm throughout the trip.

Assess

Overall, Honey I Joined a Cult has some unique content, as well as gameplay that isn’t too difficult to understand. However, it is true that this is not a game for everyone, because as mentioned, the game revolves around the theme of religion, a relatively sensitive and “hard to swallow” topic. As for the price, you will have to withdraw about $17.99 (more than 400,000 VND), which is not a pleasant price for players who are willing to experience a little-known game. But if you’re a fan of new experiences, honey I joined a cult is still worth a try! The game is currently in Beta, so there are no modes like multiplayer yet. Hopefully, in the future, the game will have more game modes and more interesting updates.